Anderson .Paak: “New sheets, new pillows: You get to start over every day” 

“Full stop, my favorite thing about hotels is that you get to start over every day: New sheets, new pillows. You get to be a new person, meet different people” says Anderson .Paak. For the eight-time Grammy-winning artist, a daily refresh seems to be a recurring theme.  

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The singer/songwriter/producer/drummer’s genre-hopping hits have taken turns showcasing him as a deft rapper (Bubblin), funk artist (Come Down), and soul singer (Leave the Door Open). He has collaborated with a diverse range of music’s biggest names, too, from Bruno Mars, Talib Kweli and Smokey Robinson to Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller and Dr. Dre.  

With four studio albums behind him, a new album, Why Lawd?, with Knxwledge just dropped, and a recent headlining slot on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival lineup, fans might wonder how he manages to reset when his schedule hits fever pitch. “I’m a little bougie,” he says. “It’s nice to have a big, fluffy bed with the feather pillows, and some sort of thing to let people know that I’m sleeping till 3 p.m., so don’t come in here.” 

Those feather pillows play a role in one of .Paak’s more unusual hotel check-in rituals, too. “First thing I do when I get into a room is I take my shoes off in the middle of the floor. I jump into the bed and then I scream into the pillow.” Why? “Sometimes it’s like a long, eight-hour flight, and I’m just excited or sometimes I’m pissed,” says the Oxnard, California, native. “I just got to let it out first and then I can figure out what I want to do after that, how I want to spend the day. That’s just me.”

Once the bedding’s been shouted into, .Paak shifts his focus to relaxation. “Usually, if I’ve worked so hard on something for a long time, that’s when I feel like I deserve a little getaway. When a crazy check clears, when I just have a few days open in my schedule, that’s when you take any excuse you can to practice some self-care and get away and treat yourself,” he says.  

For .Paak, that usually involves making the most of every available amenity. “You know you can get a massage, get the best food at any given hour, get facials, go take a dip in the pool, Jacuzzi, sleep for so long in your clothes that you have to wake up just to get ready for bed again,” he jokes. “Hotels are just a luxury, a pampered life before you have to go back to reality. I love it.” 

There are times, though, when a hotel visit might mean .Paak is on the clock. While his Bubblin lyrics joke about taking your mama to the Marriott, his hotel of choice for big events and after-parties is the Beverly Hilton. “I even did full live recordings there, which is like old school. They host a lot of parties. There are a lot of legends that have been in and out of there. That’s a cool one.” With his new album, upcoming collabs, and live shows, more lyrics from Bubblin come to mind to describe .Paak’s trajectory: “One in the hand, one in the bag… look at you go.” 

Martina Sheehan

Writer

Martina Sheehan is a Chicago-based travel writer-editor who has written for the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Budget Travel, Forbes Travel Guides, and Time Out guidebooks, among others. She has traveled to 38 countries and 46 states, and never leaves home without a good map app, a themed playlist, and her daughter.